How to Choose a Strap For Your Guitar – Materials And Width

No one likes dropping their instrument. If you have ever done it, you know how it feels; there is a moment where your heart feels as if it might stop, and your breath catches in your throat. Unfortunately, what isn’t caught is your instrument as it falls to either hardwood or tile. It isn’t funny and it isn’t fun to watch.

Luckily, there is a way to keep your instrument safe. In this article we’ll help you decide how to choose a strap for your bass guitar to prevent any future heartache.

Before we get into the suggestions and solutions, you need to ask yourself a few questions about how you play the bass. To start, do you wear your bass low? Do you tend to use tricks, like spinning your bass guitar over your shoulder or around you in a circular motion? Do you have a heavy bass, or is your bass light? What size strap pegs does your bass have?

These Questions Will Help You to Determine How to Choose the Right Strap

If you have a heavy bass guitar, wear your bass guitar low, or spin your bass guitar around to make a commotion on stage, you’ll need a thicker, heavier duty strap than a player who wears their bass high and doesn’t perform tricks or feats with it. Your best bet is to look into a leather strap, one that is sturdy and thick enough to withhold against the excess amounts of force you put on your instrument daily.

If you have a lighter bass guitar, or you wear your bass higher up on your chest, you can get away with a thinner strap, one made more for design and aesthetics than for performance or durability because you won’t be putting as much stress up the strap.

Locking Devices And Systems for Added Security

If you are a person who either has a very expensive instrument, or you have a tendency to get a bit careless with your instrument, a great thing to look into is a pair of strap locks. Strap locks will help you to avoid the unfortunate occurrence of strap slippage.

This is something that happens often enough; the strap becomes worn after months of usage, the holes for the pins loosening and becoming much larger in size, and then next thing you know your strap is constantly slipping off of the strap pins on your bass guitar.

This can also be caused if you take your strap off and put it on the bass guitar excessively. The leather (many companies use imitation leathers to save money) wears away and the hole for the strap enlarges. If you use strap locks, you will be take off and putting on the metal locks themselves instead of the strap, which will eliminate the chance of the strap wearing away and becoming loose.

In the end, you know your playing style and your habits better than anyone else. Hopefully, you’ll be able to see which of these options fits you best as a musician. Good luck!

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About The Author

Hi, my name is David Woods. My first-hand experience with a private tutor was one filled with frustration. That's why I had created this website to help bass players get a head start in their musical journey.